1950 Chevrolet 3100 - They Paid Him To Take It... Well Almost!

One day Mark Angulo made a trip to the local moving company to pick up some boxes. When he arrived, he noticed a '50 Ford truck and a '50 Chevy truck stored in the back. Mark casually asked about the '50 Chevy and the store manager said that both trucks belonged to a customer who hadn't paid the storage bills. He went on saying that they were looking to get rid of them.

"Get rid of them," Mark thought? "How do you plan to get rid of them," he asked? The store manager said either send them to the crusher or have a tow yard pick them up, either way he needed the trucks gone. "I'm interested in the Chevy," Mark said. "How much do you need for the trucks?" "One hundred fifty bucks for both trucks and you are responsible for the towing," the store manager said.

Mark took a look at the two trucks and decided that the '50 Chevy would be the best candidate to get back on the road. So after mark towed them both out of the moving yard, he put the '50 Ford up for sale. The local swap meet was coming up and Mark thought it would be an easy place to sell the Ford. Well, as luck would have it, the truck sold for $350 bucks - that's $200 more than he paid for both pickups. So in a way Mark got paid to keep the '50 Chevy.

2/12

This all happened 10 years ago, and at the same time, Mark owned a '59 El Camino and a really nice '69 C10. Mark said the C10 had a really nice paintjob on it, including custom flames that gracefully ran down the side. The C10 was too nice to drive and every time the truck was in a parking lot he was afraid it would get scratched or damaged somehow.

This lead Mark to look the other direction and build a truck that looked like it'd seen better days (patina look), but build the rest of the truck really nice. So starting with the engine, Mark had his mechanic Steve "wacko" Martinez rebuild the stock 292 six-cylinder. After thinking about the lack of power that the 292 would have, Mark decided that a V-8 would be the better route when it came to powering the pickup. Steve the mechanic had a Chevy 350 race engine that was up for sale because the original owner lost interest in it. The only downfall was the high-compression cylinder heads needed to be swapped for some stock iron Chevy Vortec heads. Swapping the cylinder heads meant it would bring the compression down enough for Mark to drive the truck on the street.

With the engine out of the way, the cab was taken off the frame and cleaning off all the grease and grime from 50-plus years was not easy. Lucky for Mark he had tons of friends who were willing to lend a hand. Steve "wacko" Martinez, Robert Gonzales, Danny Martinez, and David Lopez all helped get the truck back on the road. Mark's son Damian Angulo also pitched in to help with the truck, including welding up the gas filler hole and installing the Total Cost Involved IFS and rear four-link.

A new wood bed kit was installed, but not before the father-and-son team stained it blue. Mark said, "This truck was a frame-off restoration and some people don't get the beauty and simplicity of the truck. People think it's a hunk of junk, but we love it. As a father myself, I am proud of how this project turned out and can only hope for the day that my son and I can do the same." Great job guys.

3/12

"This lead Mark to look the other direction and build a truck that looked like it'd seen better days (patina look), but build the rest of the truck really nice."